A new Australian study addressing rape threats and other hostility directed at women online

The Cyberhate Project

Have you experienced rape threats or other hostility online?

The University of New South Wales is looking for women to interview as part of a three-year, federal government-funded project studying cyberhate directed at women. We are looking for interviewees who are prepared to talk about the vitriol they have experienced via the internet and on social media. This hostility might have come from strangers or from people you know. It might be associated with the end of a relationship. It might involve a combination of online and offline harassment. It might be something that has bothered you a lot or not at all. We are interested in hearing about all these scenarios. This major project is one of the first of its kinds and will culminate in an international symposium in 2017. Its overall aim is to increase understanding about cyberhate targetting women in order to help canvas real-world solutions. The project has received ethics approval from the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (HC No: HC15012). It has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) scheme.

Update: This study has been expanded to include women throughout Australia rather than only those who are Sydney-based.

Dr Emma A. Jane, a Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow at UNSW, is currently seeking two groups of women who are willing to answer questions about their experiences.

Group A: Australian women with public profiles/in public life

Participants will be interviewed in person or via Skype from June, 2015. The interviews will run no longer than 1.5 hours. Women in this group need: a) to be publicly visible in some way (or to have been in such a role in the past); b) to have experienced hostility or threats online; and c) to have spoken about this previously in a public forum.

Group B: Australian women who are not in public life

Participants will be interviewed in person or via Skype from June, 2015. The interview will run no longer than 1.5 hours. Interviewees will be asked to nominate a pseudonym to be used alongside their real age in the project. No other identifying details will be asked for or used in the research. Women in this group need: a) to have experienced hostility or threats online; and b) to not have spoken about this previously in a public forum.

Participants in this group will receive a $50 gift voucher for their contribution.

We are unable to talk to women who are academics engaged in internet-related research, or who are employed by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or any other corporation which could conceivably represent a conflict of interest with regards to this project.

For more information, please contact us directly or fill in the form below:

Dr Emma A. Jane (Senior Research Fellow)School of the Arts and MediaUniversity of New South WalesSydney, 2052